WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York Mets great Darryl Strawberry for tax fraud and drug charges, citing the 1983 National League Rookie of the Year’s adherence to his Christian faith and longtime sobriety.
Strawberry was an outfielder and eight-time All-Star, including seven times with the Mets from 1983 to 1990. He had 335 home runs, 1,000 RBIs and 221 stolen bases in 17 seasons.
Plagued by subsequent legal, health and personal problems, Strawberry was charged with tax fraud and ultimately pleaded guilty in 1995 to a single count. This was due to his failure to report $350,000 in income from autographs, personal appearances and memorabilia sales.
Strawberry agreed to pay more than $430,000 in the case.
He was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent surgery and chemotherapy in 1998.
The following year, Strawberry was sentenced to probation and suspended from baseball after pleading no contest to charges of cocaine possession and solicitation of a prostitute. He eventually spoke in court about his depression and was accused of violating his probation several times, including on his 40th birthday in 2002.
Strawberry ultimately served 11 months in Florida State Prison and was released in 2003.
A White House official said Friday that Trump had approved the pardon of Strawberry, who had served his sentence and paid his taxes. Speaking on background to detail a pardon that had not yet been officially announced, the official noted that Strawberry had found faith in Christianity and been sober for more than a decade and had become active in ministry and opened a recovery center that is still active.
Strawberry posted a photo of himself and Trump on Instagram and wrote, “Thank you, President @realdonaldtrump for my full forgiveness and for finalizing this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free and pure from all of my past.”
He described being at home Thursday afternoon, caring for his wife who was recovering from surgery, “when my phone wouldn’t stop ringing.”
“Half asleep, I glanced over and saw a call from Washington, DC. Curious, I answered and, to my amazement, the lady on the line said, ‘Darryl Strawberry, you have a call from the President of the United States, Donald Trump,'” Strawberry wrote. “I put it on speakerphone with my wife nearby, and President Trump spoke warmly about my baseball years in New York, praising me as one of the greatest players of the ’80s and celebrating the Mets. Then he told me he was giving me a full pardon for my past.”
Trump was a New York real estate mogul before becoming a reality TV star and winning the presidency twice.
Strawberry said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude – thanking God for freeing me from my past and helping me become a better man, husband and father.”
“This experience has deepened my faith and my commitment to working for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ,” Strawberry wrote, while also noting, “This has nothing to do with politics – this is about a man, President Trump, who cares deeply about a friend. God used him as a vessel to set me free forever!”
Strawberry’s pardon follows Trump’s granting of pardons this week to a former Republican speaker of the Tennessee House and a former aide accused of public corruption. That adds to a list of celebrities and political allies who have also received unlikely pardons — including a former Republican governor of Connecticut, a former Republican Party member of Congress and reality TV stars who have been convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion.
Strawberry played for the Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants between 1983 and 1999. He won the World Series with the 1986 Mets, alongside Dwight Gooden and Keith Hernandez, and with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
Strawberry was hospitalized for a heart attack in March 2024, a day before his 62nd birthday. That same year, the Mets retired his number 18, and an emotional Strawberry told the Citi Field crowd, “I’m really deeply sorry for leaving you guys. I’ve never played baseball in front of fans bigger than you.”
